Strike Up the Band
by The Square
Summary: Tenten never considered herself to be a musical prodigy. She just worked hard. She is determined to survive her first year at the prestigious Konoha Academy of the Arts on a full-ride scholarship as a junior in high school. NejiTen
1. Welcome to the Academy!

**Strike Up the Band **

**Chapter 1: The First Day**

** Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or those quoted song lyrics right below this disclaimer...c:**

_"But I'm gonna try  
To get better and overcome each moment  
In my own way..."_

_--Motion City Soundtrack_

Tenten hopped out of the car, clarinet case in hand. Her father opened his door and moved to open the trunk. Tenten paused to take in the campus of her new school. It was green, beautiful, and reminded her vaguely of a summer camp or college campus. Setting the brown case on the ground gingerly, Tenten moved to help her father unload the car.

She was so lucky, she kept telling herself as she walked up the drive towards a table labeled, "Check-In". How many kids had the opportunity to study at one of the best pre-professional art schools in the country for free!? She couldn't think of many and counted herself even luckier for winning her scholarship. She re-adjusted the strap of her bag and grip on her instrument case as she took another look around at the stone buildings and the dense forest that was her new home and school.

"Hello, can I help you?" asked a woman sitting at the check-in table. Tenten guessed she was in her mid-thirties. She had choppy black hair and a name tag that read "Shizune".

"She's a new student here." Her father supplied.

"Ah, I see. Welcome to the Konoha Academy of Fine Arts! What year are you and your last name?"

"I'm a junior and Tanaka." Tenten replied. While the woman was shuffling through papers, Tenten surveyed the other arriving students. Many lugged instrument cases others fussed with large portfolios and their baggage. Many had their hair dyed unusual colors and wore expensive looking clothes. Tenten felt a little out of place with what she considered her Plain Jane brown hair twisted up into two buns on her head, her hand-me-down red and grey summer dress and her gray beaten-up Converse.

"Tenten, right?" The woman asked looking up from her papers, Tenten nodded. "You're in Gershwin room 2D. Gershwin is right through that arch and on your left. Your room assignment, key, map, schedule, counselor assignment, and some general information packets are in this folder. I hope you have a great year here. If you need any help, look for staff or students in the blue polo's. I'm sure they'll be more than willing to help you."

Tenten gathered up her belongings and her father and trekked over to Gershwin House, lugged her belongings up the stairs, found her room and successfully opened the door to 2D. Inside they were greeted by a girl with shocking pink hair and bright green eyes. Tenten immediately identified her as one of the most unusually beautiful girls she had ever seen.

"Hello! I'm Sakura Haruno. I guess I'm your roommate!" Sakura had already started unpacking. Her bed was made and there was a green area rug on the floor between their beds.

"It's nice to meet you, my name's Tenten."

"Tenten—I like it. Sounds sort of exotic or like some sort of drink like a Mai-Tai…"

"Honey, I should probably get headed home. Will you be all right without me?" Tenten's father asked from the doorway.

Tenten quickly took stock of her belongings and nodded towards her father, "I think I've got everything."

"I'll miss you. You'll do great here." Her father wrapped his arms around her.

"Love you too, Dad." Tenten grinned into his shoulder. "I'll call and write e-mails, 'kay."

"Take care, be safe, and remember to practice."

"I know! I love you." She gave her father one last hug goodbye.

The dorm room door shot behind him. Tenten stared after him. She was truly on her own now. She would make her family proud of her and she would prove herself worth of the scholarship.

"So, what's your major?" Sakura asked as she put her clothes into the school issued bureau.

"Major?" Tenten asked.

"Oh, you must be new here. Most everyone here has a major, if not there in General Studies, which is sort of a big waste of time and money in my opinion. Majors are your primary focus. Like, I wanna be a famous author so my major is Creative Writing."

"That makes sense. I guess I'm Music major then." Tenten replied, setting her clarinet case on her wooden desk and unlatching her trunk to pull out her bedding and pillow.

"Really? Music is pretty competitive here. What do you play?"

"Clarinet and I like to play saxophone, too. Have you gone here for all of high school?"

Sakura looked up briefly before continuing her work, "I came here last year, as a sophomore, after I won this writing contest that covered most of the costs. I probably wouldn't be here without it. I'm not poor or anything, but I'm not exorbitantly wealthy like most everyone here."

"People aren't snobby type of wealthy are they?"

"It depends on the people. I've got a pretty good circle of friends— who you should meet by the way— but are you all set with the uniform and everything?"

"I think so. I've got enough navy bottoms than I ever thought I would need and the blue polo shirts were mailed to me. I have my dress for performances. I think I'm set besides books and stuff."

"I need to pick mine up, too. We can go together after you finish unpacking."

"All right." Tenten grinned. It seemed making friends wouldn't be as hard as she thought. She tucked her dinosaur printed sheets in at the corners and threw the dark purple comforter over it. Sakura was on her laptop and soon some music was playing that Tenten didn't recognize. "What's this song?" she asked as she began to move her clothes from her trunk to her own bureau; uniform parts in the second drawer and her street clothes in the third.

Sakura arranged a few pictures and things on her corkboard and lifted a stack of books from her trunk onto her bed. She glanced at the laptop screen quickly, "It's Bob and Bonnie by Houston Calls."

"Never heard of them."

"It's okay. I like a lot of lesser known musicians."

"So do you wanna go get those books?" Tenten asked as she shut her trunk. She had a few pictures she wanted to put out and her lamp, but that could wait. She wanted to look around.

"Yeah, let's go." Sakura nodded jumping off her bed. They passed out of the doors of Gershwin when Sakura suddenly screamed loudly. A girl with long blonde hair tied up in a pony tail ran towards them. "Pig!! How are you?" Sakura hugged the blonde-girl and jumped up and down in excitement.

"I'm fantastic. How are you! I love your haircut! How was your summer? Who is this?" she exclaimed excitedly and with the last bit she latched onto Tenten's arm.

"My summer was great. This is my new roommate, Tenten. She's a Music major. Tenten this is one of my best friends, Ino Yamanaka."

Ino grinned, "Well you're just a cutie! I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you new?" Tenten nodded shyly. Ino was a tad bit overwhelming. "Well," Ino continued, "my parents are around her somewhere and I need to lug all my crap to my room, but I'll see you guys at the Convocation later, yeah?"

"Sure thing, Ino. Where are you this year?" Sakura started to pull me away from the blonde.

"Gershwin, 2C." she read from a slip of paper.

"We're right across the hall!" Sakura squealed excitedly.

"This is seriously going to be the best year ever!" Ino enthused.

"See ya, Pig!"

"Au revoir, Forehead."

"Nicknames?" Tenten smiled.

Sakura laughed, "It's a long story that I'm sure you'll hear sometime soon. In short, I have a big forehead and Ino eats like a pig."

Tenten nodded and scanned the courtyard they were standing in. There was Gershwin behind her, Warhol House on her left and Chopin House on her right. Sakura was leading her down a concrete path away from the dormitories. Off to the side of the path was this hill that seemed to have been cut into and laid with concrete so to look like a grassy stair case. Sakura pointed to it, "That's the Terrace. My friends hang out there a lot, but when the weather's bad we hang out in that cabin back there" she gestured back into the forest where Tenten could make out the outline of a small structure. After walking a little ways more Sakura pointed towards a large, fairly new looking building across the grass, "That's the Hyuuga Center. Most formal performances happen there. There's like three theaters in there. The Motion Picture Arts kids and Theatre majors have their classes in that building next to it." After walking for a few more minutes they came upon a collection of buildings, "This is Konoha Square, but everyone just calls it the Square." She gestured towards a building labeled Lewis Hall, "That's where most academic classes are held and that one over there, the brick one, is where the Practice Rooms are. There's the lake, the Cafeteria is there, and here's the Bookstore. That path between Lewis and the Cafeteria leads to the Art and Dance Studios. That path down by the lake leads to the Writing Lodge, Music Wing, and the Rockefeller Library commonly known as the Rock. Campus is pretty big, but you'll get used to it in no time."

The two girls entered the Bookstore which was busy with kids and their parents trying to buy uniforms or books or forgotten belongings. "The Bookstore has practically everything. They have most musical supplies, notebooks, textbooks, everything, but what they don't have they've got in Tanzaka which we can ride a bus to."

After waiting in line for nearly thirty minutes, Tenten was finally able to receive her materials for class which was a large stack of music books, a math textbook, a few novels, and physics textbook. Tenten and Sakura deposited their books in their room and rushed off realizing that the Opening Convocation was to start soon.

Ino waved over the girls where she had saved two seats. Ino introduced Tenten to her roommate, a pale girl with bright lavender eyes and long, black almost purple hair. Her name was Hinata Hyuuga. Hinata was quiet and according to Ino, an Art major. The auditorium was full of chatter when a busty woman with blonde hair tied in two low pigtails stepped up to the microphone.

"Welcome! I'm the Dean of Students, Tsunade. I know everyone's excited to see old friends and make new ones, but could we settle down? Thank you. You all know that Konoha Academy place an emphasis on the development of your individual artistic talents. However, it's important to remember that good marks academically are also necessary for getting into the prestigious schools you all are dreaming of. Talent is important, the ability to work hard and diligently is essential. We expect you to work to your limits within your respective majors and encourage you all to support one another. Make the most of your time here. We know you are capable of fantastic things; otherwise, you wouldn't be here. Be creative, diligent, and successful. I wish the best of luck to all of you this year. Here's Kakashi Hatake, the director of the music program." The students clapped as Tsunade took a seat on stage and Kakashi took the podium. Kakashi had silver-grey hair although he appeared to be in his mid-thirties. Tenten leaned forward in her seat. This was the man she had to impress, a child prodigy at trumpet, he moved on to conducting in his early twenties.

"Thank you, Tsunade. Hey-ya, kiddies, seating auditions will take place tomorrow in class. The audition proctor will ask for two scales: one major, one minor. Please have an etude prepared or maybe a selection from a longer piece or concerto. Results will be posted Tuesday. Jazz Ensemble auditions will take place next week. The audition piece and information materials are available outside my office. That's all. Good luck."

Tenten sank back in her chair as he took his seat behind Tsunade. The head of the Dance department took the microphone next, making general announcements, but Tenten blocked the sound out. Her thoughts were racing. She had all of her major and minor scales memorized, but she needed to pick her prepared piece. There was the etude she had been working on, but that was too easy. She had the first movement of the Mozart clarinet concerto memorized—she could play the beginning of that for the audition. She wanted to double check her scales and the Mozart. She would need to find out how those practice rooms worked…and eat some dinner. She was hungry. She decided she'd bring her clarinet to dinner than try and find someone who knew about the music department to help her with the practice rooms than go to sleep after that. She had a plan. She always had felt calmer about auditions when she had a plan of preparation before them.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you liked the first chapter! c: There's more to come. Oh yes. Oh yes. Hopefully. I can't promise weekly updates, but I'll try my best. For those of you reading/waiting for an update on "On My Way" ... you'll have to wait longer. Sorry. Please review! I'd love feedback. Also, Konoha Acad. is based off of Interlochen Academy...so if you attend school there I'd especially love to here from you!! Thanks.**

**Square**


	2. Intimidating Practice

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

**Strike Up the Band!**

**Chapter Two**

Tenten, Sakura, Ino, and Hinata all headed back to their dorm. The three returning students talked about their summers and gossiped about boys that gad gotten, "like so much cuter over the summer!" One name in particular kept popping up, Sasuke Uchiha. Tenten wondered if he would turn out to be as good looking as the girls let on. Once back in her room, Tenten threw her worn and heavily marked copy of the Mozart concerto into her red-orange patterned shoulder bag along with her old Albert scale book, metronome, and an empty water bottle.

"Do you have your ID?" Sakura asked as she lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling.

"ID?"

"Yup, you need it for meals, library access, and pretty much anything you can think of. It's in that envelope. Actually, I'm kinda surprised you got your books without it. Must be 'cause they knew you were new."

After a bit more shuffling Tenten found her school ID and left the rest of the envelope's contents on her bed. Tenten placed the plastic card into an inside pocket of her bag and grabbed her clarinet case. After knocking on Ino and Hinata's door, the four girls headed off to dinner speculating on the way if Sasuke Uchiha's hair looked more like a chicken or a duck's ass. Tenten really couldn't wait to be introduced to this supposedly drop dead gorgeous boy who modeled his hair after barnyard birds.

Okay, she could admit it; Sasuke Uchiha was a straight up hottie, off the chain, for realsies. (1) The girls pointed him out to her as they sat down in the cafeteria for dinner. According to Ino, who Tenten was starting to realize had a basic profile of everyone on campus, he was a Music major, played trumpet, and was considered a prodigy. Sakura insisted he was an asshole and yet, Tenten couldn't help but notice the way the rose-hair girl cast her glance at him every so often.

Sasuke sat with only one other boy. The boy, identified by Hinata as Naruto Uzuamki, had spiky blonde hair and was a Music major, specifically, a percussionist. A small group of boys approached their end of the table.

Ino waved at them, "Hey, Shikamaru! Chouji, Lee, Neji." Tenten found out later from Sakura that Ino and Shikamaru's families were good friends and that they had grown up together. She also passed on that they had briefly dated, but Sakura was pretty sure Ino was over it. Shikamaru Nara had dark brown hair up into a spiky ponytail towards the top of his head and carried himself in a rather nonchalant and cool manner.

"Hey, Ino, mind if we sit with you guys?" Shikamaru asked politely.

"I don't think that's a problem." She scanned the faces of the girls for objection and finding none, motioned for the boys to sit. The boys sat and Tenten got a better look at the rest of them. Chouji was sorta pudgy, had sort of mess brown hair, but seemed kind-hearted and gentle. Lee was full of energy although had a disastrous bowl-cut and large caterpillar eyebrows. Neji, Neji was beautiful. He had strong features and the same soft pearl eyes as Hinata except his seem more bottomless and pure. He had long dark hair that seemed to be gathered in the back. He had an air of distance and arrogance about him that Tenten, on closer inspection, would label as confidence.

"Everyone, this is Tenten." Ino proclaimed and the focus of the group shifted to the brunette who gave a rather sheepish wave. "Come on, tell us about yourself!" Ino prompted.

"Err," Tenten started, "well, my name is Tenten. It's my first year here and I play clarinet and tenor sax so I guess I'm a Music major." Neji seemed to have perked up a bit at that. "One of my favorite composers is Shostakovich, but I also really like Percy Grainger."

"Which of Shostakovich's is your favorite?" Neji asked quietly.

"Symphony number five in D minor. Are you a musician as well?"

"Yes."

"Oh, really? What do you play?"

"Violin."

"Are you any good?"

Neji scoffed, "I should hope so."

"Tenten, Neji was the p-principle violinist all last year." Hinata interjected.

"Yes, Neji has never lost a chair challenge. He is a genius! However, one day, perseverance will triumph over genius! I just know it!" Lee exclaimed enthusiastically.

The conversation continued on, Ino and Sakura gossiped about their summers and the boys listened patiently and interjected their own summertime adventures. Neji didn't add much to the conversation. He appeared to be poring over a score. Tenten couldn't eat much. Her nerves made her stomach feel twisty and nauseous. She wrapped a dinner roll in a napkin and stuck it in her bag for later.

"So, Neji, are you ready for auditions?" Tenten asked running her fingertips over the handle of the clarinet case that lay on the floor next to her chair.

He paused a second before responding, "Yes, I think I am. I want to look over my piece once more before tomorrow, but that aside, yes, I'm prepared." He stood and left to deposit his tray. He took up his violin case, slung it around his shoulder, and picked up a small leather bag that looked to be a laptop case.

"Are you leaving to practice now?" Tenten asked suddenly.

"Yes."

"Would you mind showing me where the practice rooms are?" Before he could answer, Tenten was already standing, her bag over her shoulder, case in one hand, and soiled lunch tray in the other.

"I guess I could. Follow me." He murmured as she hurried to put away her tray.

"I'll see you guys later!" Tenten chirped and waved goodbye to her new friends. The girls stared after her as she strolled out of the cafeteria with the infamously awkward Neji Hyuuga.

"Has Neji ever helped someone before?" Ino asked after they had passed through the cafeteria's double doors.

"Not that I can remember," Hinata mused, "and I've known him since I was born. I've never seen my cousin behave like that. How curious."

"Maybe no one has ever asked him for help before. He is rather intimidating." Sakura replied

"Do you think he'll eat her?" Ino asked seriously.

"I hope not." Sakura stared at the door from which Neji and Tenten had just passed through.

At first, Tenten thought Neji was the comfortable silence kinda guy. She quickly realized that she was mistaken. Neji was a cross between awkward silence and "I'm choosing to ignore your presence". How delightful. He was leading her down a path by the lake.

"So…" Tenten started. She knew that saying 'so' like that made conversations more awkward because they acknowledged the silence that was present, but this conversation, or lack thereof, was already awkward.

"Hn."

"What was that? Did you just grunt?"

"No, I did not grunt. I Hn'd." he explained indignantly.

"What's Hnnn?" she teased.

"It's like humming, but really short and with an 'n'. It has a variety of meanings."

"So it's like 'meh'? Like an apathetic answer?"

"I suppose so."

"I hate apathetic people." she grumbled.

"Hn."

"Would it kill you to give me a legit answer?"

"Hn."

"You're doing this to bug me."

"Maybe I am."

"You definitely are."

"Hn."

"Hnnnn."

"You're holding the 'nnn' too long. It's sounds like your Frankenstein."

"Whatever."

"This is one of the practice rooms." Tenten looked at the building. It was a small cabin off to the side of the path.

"I expected them to be, well I dunno, more high-tech." she stared at the building before following Neji to the door.

Neji chortled, "This one is pretty old. There are newer ones, closer to the music department, but I like this one because it's sort of out of the way of things and there isn't competition for the space."

"I do believe that is the most I've heard you speak in one go."

He gave another chuckle before pulling out his wallet and from it, his ID card. He pressed it against the sensor by the doorknob which flashed green. Neji pulled open the door.

"What up with the sensors?"

"It's a way for the school to keep track of people and it's safer, I guess." He flicked on the overhead light. The inside of the practice room was more spacious than Tenten had anticipated. There were two metal music stands in the corner and a few folding chairs. Neji set his case down and unzipped his leather bag. He pulled out sheet music and set it on one of the stands.

"What are you playing?" she asked.

"Maurice Ravel's Tzigane." He gingerly opened his case, tightened, and applied rosin to his bow.

"Oh." Tenten watched him work methodically before she sat on the floor and pulled her case into her lap.

"You haven't heard it?"

"Not yet." she put a reed in her mouth. It was a good 3 ½ that she'd broken in the week before. She picked up her polishing cloth and began to work over the keys, wiping away oil from her hands and old fingerprints.

"Well, it won't be the same without an accompanist." he warned while tuning.

She put the cloth away and took out her tube of cork grease and began working over the corks of her horn while he began to play. She capped the cork grease and closed her eyes as she leaned against the cabin wall. The rich tone and vibrato crept into her mind. She was reminded of maroon and deep violet and campfires. She thought of Europe and dances and the sway of gypsy caravans. Neji played beautifully. A moment of silence past and then he began to play again before he paused again and continued. Tenten watched him, his eyes were closed and his expression wouldn't change much. His mouth would twitch occasionally or his brow would furrow. Overall, he was rather stoic in expression. The piece was melancholy and soon Neji paused again to continue with a renewed vigor. The pace continued to quicken and soon it was over. Neji looked at the floor before casting his gaze towards Tenten. Her eyes were wide and she looked rather dazed.

"Was it really that bad?" he cringed. "I didn't think it was _that_ bad."

Tenten's expression turned into a frown, "No!! Not at all! You just play so beautifully. I've never heard anyone so young play that well."

Neji let out a dry laugh, "You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard that, but most all of the musicians here can play as well as I can or better." Tenten paled. "So how about I listen to you now?"

"Well, I dunno…" She was intimidated to say the least. No one at her old school could play like Neji. Her confidence in her ability had been shaken.

"If you can't play for me, how are you ever going to manage to play for Kakashi?" he reasoned.

"I guess you're right." she agreed although she was still unsure. She proceeded to assemble her clarinet. She carefully aligned the middle joint before attaching the bell, barrel, mouthpiece, and finally the reed and ligature. She fumbled in her bag for a moment for her metronome and music. She set the metronome to play A440 for her and she tuned by pulling out from her barrel and middle. She always tended to be a bit flat. Setting the metronome aside she set the sheet music on the stand although she doubted she would need it. She ran through her usual warm up routine scales, arpeggios, thirds, and once through a full range chromatic scale. She looked up at Neji who had seated himself in one of the folding chairs rather than on the floor.

"Well, go on." he nodded at her. She adjusted her reed slightly before the beginning from the piece and from there, she let herself flow. She didn't need to think much, her fingers knew where they were supposed to go after hours of practice. She was conscious of dynamics and articulation style and the mood of the piece. She knew the piece by heart. As she was playing it was more like she a casual observer noticing her small errors. She knew the piece was at least a few minutes, but the time seemed to pass extraordinarily quickly and after she finished she sucked in a greedy breath. She wiped away the sweat that had formed on her brow—a familiar sign of her concentration. She often wore a bandanna around her forehead when practicing for long periods of time so it wouldn't drip into her eyes. (2) She was so engrossed in analyzing the music she just had made that she forgot Neji was still in the room.

"You have very nice tone." he said and Tenten jumped.

"Thanks."

"That was the first movement of the Mozart concerto, right?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know the rest of it?"

"Yeah, but not as well as I know the first movement."

"You should consider entering the concerto competition the school holds, I could use some real competition." he gave her smirk as he pushed open the practice room door. "I guess I'll see you around."

Tenten's face was flushed as the door closed and she muttered quietly, "Yes, you will." before pulling the metal chair over and settling down to fine tune a few things. Neji Hyuuga, huh. What a strange guy.

* * *

(1) I couldn't resist. I talk like that with my friends all the time.

(2) I wear a purple bandanna when I practice because I do tend to sweat when I'm concentrating. I also wear it to study…c:

_(A/N: I'm sorry for the delay. I had finals!! Oh no!! Well I did pretty well on them, so that's all right. I felt bad about the wait though, so I blew off the DBQ I was planning on writing today to get this chapter out for you all. I hope you liked it! By the way, you should all go listen to Tzigane. It's gorgeous. Also, can you tell I know little to nothing about violin? Because I know quite little...c: Thanks for reading!!! I would love feedback from all of you! More of you subscribed than reviewed. I don't mind, but reviews are nice to get and they motivate me to write more.)_

**Review?**


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